Collecting Toy Soldiers

The toy soldier has been mass-produced for the juvenile market for over 150 years and collecting them has become a very accessible and affordable pastime for many thousands of people worldwide. Okay some individual toy soldiers are expensive but nonetheless you can still amass a sizeable collection for a reasonable outlay.

One of the greatest pleasures I get as a collector of toy soldiers is seeing other peoples collections and exchanging information or ideas with them. It's a great way to learn more about the toy soldier world, broaden your interest and gain inspiration.

The purpose of this site is to show something of the wide diversity of toy soldiers that have been manufactured worldwide in a variety of different materials, included are book reviews and images of the toy soldier as made by the following manufacturers:

Airfix, Acedo, Athena, Armies in Plastic, Atlantic, Authenticast, Armee, BMC, Befoid, Britains, Beton, Cherilea, Charbens, Crescent, Call to Arms, Cofalu, Clairet, Cellose, Cyrnos, Cafe Storme, Durso, Durolin, Eyes Right, Elastolin, Deetail, Heyde, Harvey Series, Herald, Historex, Ideal, JIM, Jecsan, Jean, Jouets Michel, Johillco, Krollyn, Lone Star, Lucotte, Lineol, Leyla, Lafredo, Manurba, Manoil, Marolin, Mokarex, MPC, Mars, Marx, Malleable Mouldings, Monarch, Matchbox, MIM, Mignot, Nardi, Oliver, Pech Hermanos, Quiralux, Reamsa, Replicants, Reisler, Speedwell, Segom, Sacul, Salpa, Schusso, Swoppets, Starlux, Pfeiffer, Tibidabo, Trojan,Tim Mee, Timpo, Xiloplasto, Wendal, Zang

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Toy Soldiers are normally categorised by the material they are manufactured from and here are the terms most commonly used.

ENGLISH	FRENCH	GERMAN	What does that mean?
Flat Toy Soldier	Soldat d'etain	Zinnfiguren	A two dimensional wafer thin toy soldier cast from tin in moulds engraved in slate, produced in Germany and Austria from the early 19th Century to date.
Semi-Flat ToySoldier	Soldat de demi Ronde Bosse	Halbplastisch Figuren	Cast in solid lead they are not fully three dimensional. First made in Germany in the 1830s where they were superceeded by the Solid toy soldier. They remained popular in Austria well into the 20th Century.
Solid Lead Toy Soldier	Soldat de Plomb Plein/Ronde Bosse	Bleisoldaten or Rundplastische	Cast in solid metal usually lead and most common in Germany during the 19th and early 20th Century. The earliest commercial production was by LUCOTTE in France 1785.
Hollow Cast Toy Soldier	Soldat en Plomb Creux	Hohlguss figuren	Cast in metal, usually an alloy, which cools and sets first where it touches the mould, the excess molten metal is then poured out leaving a hollow figure. Pioneered by BRITAINS in the UK in 1893 they were much cheaper than the solid figures imported from Germany.
Dimestore Toy Soldier	Jouets d'un sou	Pfennigartikel figuren	Peculiar to the US where they were sold through "five and dime" stores from the 1920s to 1940s. Usually hollow cast toy soldiers, some were also made in slush cast iron.
Aluminium Toy Soldier	Soldat d'Aluminium	Aluminium Figuren	Slush cast aluminium was used extensively in France during the early/mid 20th Century and in England by just one company WENDAL
Paper Toy Soldier	Soldat de Carte	Papier Figuren	Toy Soldiers printed on sheets of paper or card to be cut out and mounted on blocks of wood have been produced all over Europe and the US since the 1770s.
Composition Toy Soldier	Soldat en Matiere Composee	Masse Figuren	Made from a mixture of sawdust and glue formed around a wire armature. First manufactured in Austria at the end of the 19th Century, they grew to prominence in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. Also manufactured in France, Belgium and extensively in Italy where they are known as Pasta figures.
Toy Soldier Premium	Figurine Publicitaire	Werbefiguren	Produced in all types of materials, mostly post-war they are toy soldiers used to promote a product such as coffee or breakfast cerial. They often carry the product brand name rather than the toy manufacturer's and have become collectible in their own right.
Plastic Toy Soldier	Soldat de Matiere Plastique	Plastik Figuren	Produced from 1920s but mostly post WW2 to date. Early figures were made of hard plastics such as acetate and polystyrene, giving way to softer plastics such as polythene and lately PVC.
Army Men	No Equivalent	No Equivalent	A recent distinction refering to unpainted plastic toy soldiers, often copies of proprietory makes, sold cheaply in poly bags which makes them popular with wargamers who require sizeable instant armies.

Creating such a directory is a massive undertaking so please bear with us, much of the source material is drawn from books reviewed on this site (particularly the works of Opie, Joplin, O'Brien, Dittmann, Garrett and Blondieu) but also from catalogues and materials provided by numerous collectors, additional information is always welcome.

MAKER	NATIONALITY	CATEGORY	COMMENTS
Airfix	England	Plastic	Founder Nicholas Kove wanted the company to have a name begining with an A so that it would be near the top of trade directories. Best known for plastic construction kits they produced some of the earliest soft plastic toy soldiers in 1946 and more extensive ranges in 20mm scale from the 1960's and 54mm scale during the 1970's
Acedo	France	Plastic	Domage et Cie, originally made aluminium toy soldiers under the name Aludo but changed it to Acedo when they began producing the same figures in acetate plastic. Hence ACEtate DOmage
Allgeyer	Germany	Flat tin
Aludo	France	Aluminium	Domage et Cie. see above. It was common for French companies producing aluminium figures to incorporate ALU in their name (Mingalu, Cofalu, Quiralu, etc.) Here it is ALUminium DOmage
Ammon	Germany	Flat tin
Armee	Germany	Composition	From late 1930's to early 1950's made poor quality Wehrmacht and Wild West figures based on Lineol designs, didn't make the transition to plastic when the market turned away from composition
Athena	Greece	Plastic	Often referred to as AEHONE, based in Athens and takes it's name from the Greek godess Athena which is it's trademark. Most common figures are Hoplites and Evzones sold as tourist souveniers
Authenticast	Eire	Solid Lead	Authenticast Comet Gaeltacht Industries. Was set up in the Republic of Ireland by US toy soldier manufacturer Comet, to take advantage of post war development grants and tax concessions. Designed by Swedish artist Holger Eriksson who carved the masters in wax giving the finished product a distinctive "hammered" look which has a strong appeal to collectors.
Beffoid	France	Plastic	Named after the founder Charles Debeffe made a range of post-war French army, colonials and Wild West, some issued as premiums for Nescafe
Bon-Dufour	France	Composition	Made very distinctive doll like toy soldiers of the French army around the turn of the 20th Century, also made very artistic wooden forts and buildings to go with them.
Britains	England	Hollow Cast/Plastic	Named after the founder William Britains in 1893 who revolutionised the marketing of toy soldiers by introducing Hollow Casting to reduce cost and setting the standard size of toy soldiers at 54mm high to compliment the popular guage of toy trains. When plastic began to replace metal toy soldiers in the 1950's, due to cost and child safety laws, Britains produced some of their hollow-cast farm animals in plastic but were unable to match the quality of some of their competitors so they bought Herald to acquire the skills they needed.
Cellose	France	Composition	Made 80mm toy soldiers of the Napoleonic period and the contemporary French army during the 1930's
Charbens	England	Hollow Cast/Plastic	Named after Charlie and Ben Reid, founders of the company
Cherilea	England	Hollow Cast/Plastic	Named after Wilf Cherington and Jim Leaver, founders of the company.
Crescent	England	Hollow Cast/Plastic
Cafe Storme	Belgium	Plastic	In 1960 Francis Storme commisioned a range of figures to depict characters from Belgian history to be issued as premiums with Cafe Storme.
Deetail	England	Plastic	Brand name for a range of toy soldiers launched by Britains in 1971 to replace the Swappet and Eyes Right ranges which were in decline. Deetail was the brainchild of Charles Biggs who incorporated a plastic figure with a metal base to improve stability, a feature which was copied many years later by Elastolin for their 70mm swappet range.
Durso	Belgium	Composition
Durolin	Czeckoslovakia	Composition
Elastolin	Germany	Composition/Plastic
Fontanini	Italy	Plastic
Gemodels	England	Plastic	Founded by George E. Musgrave who had been a sculptor for Britains and Crescent. When the company was originally set up the name was pronounced as GemModels but there was already another toy firm making model rockets with this name so Musgrave had to change the pronunciation to GeeModels.
Heinrichsen	Germany	Flat tin
Herald	England	Plastic	Name and Trade Mark of Zang, inspired by a poster for the Harrogate Toy Fair. The company was later sold to Britains and operated independantly producing plastic toy soldiers alongside the parent company which continued to make hollow cast figures until the two were finally integrated and the metal line was discontinued.
Heyde	Germany	Solid Lead	Named after the founder George Heyde
JIM	France	Plastic	Name derived from Jouets Incassables en Matiere Plastique. Made a large range of plastic figures including Disney characters which are particularly sought after.
Jean	Germany	Plastic	Named after Jean Hofler, founder of the company.
Jecsan	Spain	Plastic
Johillco	England	Hollow Cast/Plastic	John Hill and Co. named after the founder John Hill.
Krolyn	Denmark	Aluminium
Leyla	Germany	Composition	Named after Christian Ley, founder of the company
Lineol	Germany	Composition
Lone Star	England	Hollow Cast/Plastic	Trading name of the Die Cast Machine Tools cmpany (DCMT)
Lucotte	France	Solid Lead
Malleable Mouldings	England	Plastic/Solid Lead	Malleable: "that which can be hammered or pressed into shape" An early (post war) attempt to make plastic figures from acetate utilising moulds designed by Holger Eriksson (see Authenticast). When this failed they produced soild metal figures for adult collectors.
Manurba	Germany	Plastic	Named after the founder Manfred Urban.
Mars-Hindenburg	Germany	Composition
Marx	USA	Plastic	Louis Marx produced tin lithographed toy soldiers in the 1930s but is best known for developing the concept of the playset which incorporated tin lithograph buildings with plastic toy soldiers and accessories
Miller	USA	Plaster	Made 12" figures of WW2 G.I.s in plaster of paris.
Mokarex	France	Plastic	Issued as premiums with Mokarex coffee was a collection of figures depicting characters from French history
Ochel	Germany	Flat tin
Pfeiffer	Austria	Composition	Named after proprietor Emil Pfeiffer, originally made dolls and began making toy soldiers around the turn of the 20th Century. Their sodiers were quite distinctive being over 10cm high they stand without any base and have child like faces, a legacy of the doll making. They went on to make the first toy soldiers for Elastolin.
Quiralu(x)	France	Aluminium/Plastic	Derived from Quirine et Cie. (pronounced key-ra-loo) When production changed to plastic an x appears to have been added to the name.
Reamsa	Spain	Plastic	Name derived from Resinas Artificiales Moldeadas S.A.
Reisler	Denmark	Plastic	Named after the founder Kai Reisler.
SAE	South Africa	Plastic/Solid Lead	Swedish African Engineers. Best known for 25mm solid lead wargame figures, they later made a range of 54mm mounted figures in plastic.
Schweizer	Austria	Flat tin/Semi Flat lead
SEGOM	France	Plastic	Name derived from Societie d' Edition General d' Objets Moules. Produced 54mm kit figures in cream acetate (mostly Napoleonic) as well as 25mm wargaming pieces
Spenkuch	Germany	Semi flat lead
Starlux	France	Composition/Plastic
Tipple Topple	Austria	Composition	Latter trade name of Pfeiffer, they made Wild West, Polar, Zoo and Crib figures.
Timpo	England	Composition/Aluminium Hollow Cast/Plastic	Name derived form Toy Importers Co. Founded by Sally Gawrylovitz better known as Ally Gee. Initially bought in composition figures made by Zang and aluminium made by Wendal which were packaged into playsets and sold under the Timpo name. Timpo produced their own hollow cast range and later adapted the moulds to create their early plastic figures. Contemporaneously with Britains they developed the Swappet style of figure in order to cut out the cost of hand painting, this in turn led to the development of overmoulding to provide a multicoloured product.
Wendal	England	Aluminium/Plastic	Name derived from Wendan Manufacturing, mostly made copies of Quiralu under licence also some original designs such as a tiger hunt produced for Timpo. The zoo and farm ranges were later produced in plastic with a flock coating to simulate fur.
Zang	England	Composition/Plastic	Named after the founder Meyer Zang. Initially made compositon figures for Timpo whcih carry no trademark. Early plastic figures carry the Zang trademark M overprinted with Z (which looks like a Y in a square box) this was later replaced with the Herald trademark.

Most people start collecting toy soldiers out of a sense of nostalgia for what they had as a child, sound familiar? In my case, when I was four years old I spent some time in hospital and whenever my parents or other relatives came to visit they always brought me some new figures. That was over forty years ago and although I left hospital fully recovered from my illness, I was hopelessly addicted to collecting toy soldiers.

In all other matters I am relatively sane, happily married, overweight, employed, grey haired, shortsighted, love living in London and wish that I could be as clever as either of my two cats.

Hopefully by now you will have looked at some of the other pages and realized that primarily I am a collector of the plastic toy soldier made from the 1940's to date and the composition toy soldier made from around the turn of the century to the mid 1940's. I don't follow any particular manufacturer or theme but look for the three things that I believe make a good toy soldier:

The quest for such toy soldiers has led me to collecting conversions, both my own and other peoples. A conversion is a figure which started life as an ordinary commercially made toy soldier and has been changed to represent something different, the time and effort expended being more than compensated by owning a unique piece which you made yourself.

Finally, all of the opinions expressed on this site are my own and are open to criticism.

Ancient	Medieval I	Medieval II	Medieval III	Displays	Composition
16/17th Cent	18th Cent	19th Cent	Napoleonic	Wild West	Composition II
ACW	Revolution	WWI	WWII	Books	Links
Just when you thought you had seen it all!